Mateo Melgarejo is a notary public and scribe for the illiterate people of Santo Domingo, a neighborhood north of Mexico City's Zócalo. A squatter friend asks for his help in negotiating with the land census bureau to regularize a land title. After a great deal of frustration with the government bureaucracy, he writes a letter to the cabinet minister, earning an audience with him. The minister hires Melgarejo to reform the bureau, and the appointee proceeds to lecture the officials on their duties in a democratic society. At the end, he gives up the post, returning to Santo Domingo to help its poor residents.

Credits

Miguel M. DelgadoDirector

CantinflasMateo Melgarejo 'Mateíto'

Chela CastroVicky

Lucía MéndezBarbara

Ángel GarasaAvelino Romero 'Romeritos'